San Simean, CA

Two other cyclists showed up at the Hiker/Biker sites in New Brighton Beach State Park. They are Pius and Stefan from Switzerland. They were riding their recumbents from Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego - June 07-February 09. See we are not the only crazy people in the world. You can check out their website at http://www.panamerica.ch/

The next morning we had our oatmeal for breakfast. By the time we got away it was almost 11am. All the other cyclists were gone already. It was a pretty morning. Alittle fog but not so bad that we needed our lights. The temperatures were nice and warm. Instead of following the route back into town we decided to blaze our own trail. BIG mistake! We ended up climbing several very steep bonus hills. But what the heck we're just out for a bike ride! Today we rode through alot of agriculture area. The picture above is celery (we think). We also saw brussel sprouts, artichokes, strawberries, tomatoes. There were alot of migrant workers in the fields harvesting the crops. I have never seen such large fields of strawberries or tomatoes. In each field there along with the workers there was a truck pulling a port a potty and playing music. Quite a sight as we rode along! As we got closer to Monterey we got onto a bike trail that took us into Monterey. We had been to Monterey several times before when Hap was racing motorcycles. Once a year we would drive out to Laguna Seca Raceway just outside of Monterey. We got into town and stopped at the visitor center to ask directions to the Veterans Memorial Campground. As we rode through town we stopped at a street fair and bought some fresh fruit to take to the campground. The campground ended up being at the top of a fairly steep one mile climb. One of those biking laws!! When we got to the campground we found Grant, Jenny, Stefan and Pius already there. We set up our tent, took our FREE shower and started to cook dinner. Grant said he wanted to go to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner so we all ended up going DOWN the hill to the wharf. Stefan and Pius walked down and we all rode. The weather had turned very cool and windy. We ate dinner at Rappa's Seafood Restaurant. Since it was the day before Hap's 61st birthday we decided it was his birthday dinner. It was really fun to go out do dinner with a group of people. By the time we got done eating it was dark outside so we put on all of our lights and headed out. Before leaving I heard seal lions barking very close so I walked around the side of the building. There was a great big one laying on the dock. Some people started walking towards it and he RAN them off. Boy they sure can move fast! It was really funny to see the people's reaction. The other guys decided to hit the bars so Jenny rode back up the hill to the campground. It was especially fun with a full belly.

The next morning we were the last ones to leave the campground again. Jenny and Grant decided to stay and go to the Monterey Aquarium. Late the night before another couple had showed up. They were from the Yukon. They are on a 10,000 mile birding journey. You can read about them at www.birdyear.com. It is so interesting meeting other cyclists and finding out their reasons for taking a cycling journey. We have discovered in our 20 years of cycle touring that the trips are more about the journey and not about the destination. It's how you get to where you are going. The people, the sights, the smells, the adventure. That's why I don't talk too much about how many miles we ride or how far we went in a day. It is so much more than just miles. I can't wait to see who else we get the opportunity to meet. The campground host told us a way to leave without going down the big hill, so we took his advice. It turned out to be a big climb anyway. But I guess it kept us from going down, climbing back to where we were and then climb some more. We were still in Monterey and went past the famous 17 mile drive. Someone asked me if we went down it. But at that point we were just trying to figure out a safe way through all of the traffic at that intersection. We had to merge onto US 1 and so was everyone else. Rt 1 started out with not much berm/shoulder and lots of traffic. But the traffic lessened as we got further away from Monterey. Today we spent most of the day riding right along the edge of the ocean. We had spectacular views. It was awesome. The weather was alittle cool and overcast. But the scenery made the day. Traffic didn't seem so bad either. There were quite a few hills today but nothing terrible. We had decided to stay in a hotel for the night so that we could charge up our phones, computer etc. But when we started looking at the prices around Big Sur we changed our minds. We ended up at Pfieffer State Park in a hiker/biker site. At $3/pp it sounded like a good deal to us. They had a laundromat so we took our cooking stuff and went to do our laundry and cook dinner. While we were there a couple from Chicago came to do their laundry. We had a nice chat with them while we finished up. We went into the lodge to see if we could get online since our verizon card wouldn't work, but no dice. Hap worked on our pictures for awhile and I went "shopping". Ok so I didn't buy anything again. I really don't wanna carry anything else. During the night it rained pretty hard, but we stayed dry in the tent. The only problem was when we had to go to the bathroom and it was "outside".

This morning we got up to a very wet tent. It had stopped raining but was soaked. We packed up anyway and went to the lodge for breakfast. Both of us had eggs benedict, sitting by a roaring fire and drinking Hot coffee. Ok, Hap now I feel better. The ride today started out with a three mile climb. Now your just being cruel. I need at least a 20 mile warm up before a hill. The sun came out but the temps today stayed cool in the 60's. I think today's ride was one of the best since we had left home. The views were just awesome. Hopefully the pictures will show you some of what we saw. We spent all day along the edge of the cliffs overlooking the water. We saw another whale today. Traffic wasn't too bad. Although we did have a black mustang come really close and a motor home come right up behind us and scare us. We tried to catch them but we were in the middle of another 3 mile (or so) climb. Too bad. Most of the traffic was going slow because they were looking at the scenery too. We stopped alot today to look, take pictures or eat a snack. We stopped in Gorda to eat. We got two cokes and some fritos for $8! There isn't much in the way of towns or commercial restaurants along this stretch of road. You could see where there were lots of areas that had slid off and they had repaired it. We came down off of Ragged Point and the road flattened out just before San Simean. We saw Hearst Castle up on the hillside. In San Simean we decided to stay at the Sea Breeze Inn. I had a coupon so we got a deal. We got take out at a mexican restaurant. Until next time!